Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. has been appointed as the handler for a new weekly flight by SW Italia, a subsidiary of Silk Way West Airlines.

“We are delighted to extend our relationship with SW Italia to include this new operation, which clearly signals the growing role of the mainstream air freight industry in e-commerce logistics,” said Mark Whitehead, chief executive of Hactl.

The new flight is operated from Hong Kong to Prague by a Silk Way West Boeing 747-8F. The aircraft, registered VQ-BVB, is operated exclusively for STO Express, a Chinese express delivery company, and features the STO logo on the fuselage.

“We look forward to working with STO Express on this exciting new project, and are very happy to entrust the vitally important ground-handling element of the operation to our long-term service partner Hactl,” said Ignazio Coraci, president and CEO of SW Italia.

SW Italia is based at Milan-Malpensa Airport.